What Sam Shueh said.The bank took my low ball offer for cash.

.~$250k in equity in our small condo in Boulder, CO (worth about $530k right now) - we owe about $280k for 12 more years of a 15 year refiEmergency fund worth of cash (a bit low) and some insignificant retirement accounts ($10k and $30k, respectively)"Good" self-employment income, around $150k for both of us (it's all relative and that feels like pennies in Boulder)About $20k in credit card debt which should get paid off in a matter of a few months (we had some extraneous expenses in the recent past; long story; "won't happen again")About $16k car loan on my wife's Real Estate Mobile (she is a RE agent here in Boulder)I feel like we're the "Sam" character in Chapter 12 of the book - classically calculating our net worth looks OK, but calculating our "Real Net Worth" comes out depressingly negative.We really want to get started in REI, but of course we need to pay off our credit card debt and probably the car loan and save up $X first.Right?

Sam

Hi Sam,You might end up having to sell it and find someplace else that's better.Good Luck!

@Sam Shueh, I double checked...yearly taxes show to be $2012, which would be $171...am I missing something else?

My name is Sam, and I work for TransUnion SmartMove, a tenant screening service powered by TransUnion.

Billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell could have "cashed in his chips" and walked away quite comfortably probably in the early 1970's if not earlier, but I'm sure he continues to look for deals now in his 70's,  billionaire Carl Icahn is almost 80 and still looking for companies to "raid".  

@Sam Shueh I looked it over carefully after you said that and finally found my silly mistake. thanks for your help!

One of the best ways to legally prevent Uncle Sam from sticking his grubby hands into your cookie jar.

I am finishing up my first flip and it’s decision time, sell, refinance and rent or burn it down...kidding kidding on the last one.My intentions as I got close to finishing the house were to cash out refi and rent it and get another rental with extra cash I thought I’d pull from it but... banks and lenders aren’t making that look very enticing so before I commit to sell I’d like some advice.I have 150k into the house total I’m expecting to sell it for 200k and I am expecting I can refinance it at close to that value but lenders are only giving back 75% LTV for a cash out refi that leaves me short to even get my invested money back so I conclude I sell it and walk away with 25k ish in my pocket after Uncle Sam takes his undeserved share.A couple other things to point out is I’m not using a realtor so selling fees are minimal and if I rented it I’d cash flow a min of 250/month.